nysalogs | . under starless skies . closed

_{[He couldn't be sneaky enough to not be detected by her sensitive hearing, even if he tried, and so she's sitting up on her canopy bed even before he's looking through the crack of the door left ajar. She gives him a fanged grin, resting her chin against a palm as she waves to him, expecting Takasugi to appear (she can smell him, of course)...only to see a rather small boy instead.

Wait what? Hold up...did Takasugi have a son? It couldn't be!]}

Hey! You know it's rude to peek on a Lady, don't you?

[Takasugi's step halts the moment he hears motion in the bedroom. His joints ache, a readiness to fight spreading over his body.

Blood pumps in his ears.

He almost doesn't hear the saccharine voice; such mundane scolding hadn't been what he'd expected.

A scorned noblewoman, he can deal with.

Shoulders squaring, confidence returns to him, and he leans against the door frame.] Huh?

I don't see any ladies here, so it's fine. [Sick burn.]

What do you see then, a monster?

_{[Brat. She'll grin and bear her fangs for the hell of it, sliding off her mattress to draw closer, hands on her hips.]}

It's unwise to wander into territory that isn't yours, you know. You're lucky I'm fond of you.

[Wait-

Were those fangs? They weren't fangs, right? Her teeth are just. Pretty?

Too many questions rise at once - how does she know him? How did he get here?

The boy's eyes narrow, but he refuses to budge from his spot on the door. Show fear, and he's lost.] I didn't wander here.

I woke up here. [One question at a time, even if he only implies it.

What the hell is going on?]

You really truly are a squatter, aren't you?

_{[Not that she cares, even if he smells good enough to eat right now and she's feeling kind of hungry...

But she'll control herself.]}

This is my house.

[Offended!

Even if he has no idea what's going on, Takasugi manages to be affronted by baseless accusations.]

I don't want to stay here.

[The outburst forces him into a corner-

What does he want?]

I just can't leave until I know where I'm going. [He doesn't know what he wants.]

Oh of course you can. The front door is easy enough to find!

_{[Yeah, you wanna play? She'll play.]}

I'll show you out, since you seem to dislike my company so much.

[Eyes widen, not fear but something approaching it. The foreign street didn't appear treacherous, but wandering it with little information would bring him closer to danger, not answers.

Better to take advantage of what's fallen into his lap - this house, and the idiot occupying it.]

Aa. You're right. I don't like it- [An over pronounced huff, he turns away, pointedly looking towards the window.] But you're all I've got.

And it looks like I'm all you've got, too. ["So let's get along' is too optimistic, but the idea is... something like that.]

Excuse me? You're not all I've got.

_{[She'll click her tongue at that, more miffed than actually insulted.]}

But if I'm all you've got then you better be nice to me, don't you think?

I didn't see anyone else in this house.

[The thought that someone else lives here isn't difficult to believe, but her room hardly looks like one shared with a lover.

Not that his nine year old ass knows what that'd look like. But, like any 4th grader, he thinks he knows what that looks like.]

What, you want a proper introduction or something? [Sounds awful.

He doesn't want to bow to a foreigner. Even if she is a beauty.] Takasugi Shinsuke. [Will his name carry any clout here? He doubts it. The only response he expects is the woman's name in return.]

Shinsuke? Really?

_{[She'll pause at that, peering down at him and leaning closer as if to get a better look. He does smell like the man, at least. He's just...a lot smaller.

And, as soon as the moment of her curiosity passes her expression is replaced with a fanged grin.]}

You've gotten smaller! You don't remember me then? Diva? Ah...I'm hurt...

_{[She's not. In fact, she looks like she's choking back laughter.]}

[If she threatened to eat him now, Takasugi would believe it. There's hunger in the woman's eyes when she towers over him, baring fangs in a ravenous smile. It's unsettling, the connotation that she somehow knows him knitting his gut tighter.]

I've never met you before. [Apprehensive, with none of the childish bite he's been spewing.

He's out of his breadth, doing his best to appear not so.] And I haven't gotten any smaller. [He's grown a few inches recently! Rude!!!]

_{[Maybe it's magic or something of the sort, that Takasugi's found himself not only small again but unable to remember her. She'd be offended if it wasn't obviously something out of his control.]}

Is that so? I remember meeting you but...nevermind it. It's not important. You're lucky I'm fond of you or I'd gobble you up right here and now.

_{[She wouldn't...but it's fun fucking with him.]}

[Fingers curl, and eyes dart around the room. A canopy over the bed, ornate and foreign furnishings, and an old window. There's nothing to use as a weapon - and only one opportunity for escape. Crashing through the glass and plummeting two stories down would leave him reeling, but he'd run.

If she attacked him, he'd live.

The thought - irrational though it may be - settles Takasugi's nerves. He exhales stale breath and brings his eyes back to her all at once.] Do you usually eat people?

[Not sure what sort of answer he's hoping for...]

I won't pass up the opportunity if that's what you're asking.

_{[Okay, she's kind of being a shitlord, but she's having too much fun here okay.]}

But I've been holding back as of late.

[Is this one of those opportunities? Takasugi backs up, though he gives purpose to the distance by plopping his little ass on her bed, kicking his feet over the side in awe of the height. Back home, they sleep on futons...

This is so foreign, he's not sure if he likes it.]

Why are you holding back? [He doesn't want to be eaten, but if she's a monster who gobbles up little kids and adults alike...

What's the point in restraint?]

Mm...I'm trying to behave more. Enough trouble has been happening. I don't want to add to it right now.

_{[Don't ask her weird questions. Shh.]}

Having fun?

_{[On the bed, she means. She did the same thing, she recalls, when she'd been given a bed of her own to sleep on.]}

[Even at this age, Takasugi knows there's trouble everywhere. In his world, a war with aliens rages on the outskirts of peaceful villages, threatening to reduce them to scorched earth without warning.

He wouldn't hesitate to add to that chaos.

So the monster woman's explanation receives narrowed eyes and little more.]

It's weird. [Scoffs! And with one final aggressive kick he stops swinging his legs. ~~Embarrassed about being called out for acting childish.~~] What about you?

What do you do for fun instead of eating people?

What do I do for fun? I sing.

_{[The answer comes after little deliberation or need to think on the matter. After all, it's one of her favourite past times, to sing and hum various melodies to herself, whether or not she has an audience for it.]}

Sometimes I climb trees too.

[Singing suits her, he thinks. After all, her dark hair and pale skin makes her a beauty, and with a song on her lips instead of talk of eating people, she'd be quite popular. He quirks a smile at the thought.

Though, the image of her in a tree with branches sticking out of her hair, white stained by dirt and bark, is pretty funny.] You sound pretty wild. [Half sarcasm, half earnest.] Don't your caretakers think you're troublesome? [His do, and they've been trying for years to beat his restlessness out of him.

If only it was so easy.]

. under starless skies . closed

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